Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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387. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the main policy achievements of her Department since 27 June 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61657/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department has delivered significant achievements since June 2020. At that time, the country was in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic and this department introduced the Pandemic Unemployment Payment a few months previously in response to the unprecedented disruption to the labour market caused by Covid-19. Some 29.7 million PUP payments issued at a cost of over €9.2 billion while 880,000 people received payment under the scheme. PUP recipients transitioned to standard jobseeker terms and the scheme was closed on 31 May 2022.

The 2023 Social Protection Budget is the largest in the history of the state, while Budget 2022 was also significantly larger than previous years. Budget 2023 includes a €12 increase in the maximum rate of all core weekly payments, e.g., pensioners, widows(ers), lone parents, jobseekers, carers, and people with disabilities, with a €2 increase in payments in respect of children of social welfare recipients. The Working Family Payment thresholds are to increase by €40 per week for all family sizes, while there is an increase of €20.50 in the monthly rate of Domiciliary Care Allowance bringing the payment to €330 per month.

Also announced on Budget Day was a significant set of lump sum payments in 2022 aimed at providing additional and immediate support to social welfare recipients during the current cost of living crisis. These payments include a once-off double payment for all weekly paid social welfare recipients, a double payment of Child Benefit, an additional €400 for Fuel Allowance recipients, an additional €200 for recipients of the Living Alone Allowance, an additional €500 for Working Family Payment recipients, and an additional €500 payment for carers and people with disabilities.

The Report of the Child Maintenance Review Group was published on 16 November 2022. The Government has accepted the Group's recommendations in relation to the social welfare system. As a result, child maintenance payments will be disregarded in the means test for social welfare payments; the "efforts to seek maintenance" requirement will also be removed from One-Parent Family Payment and Jobseeker's Transitional Payment; and the liable relative provisions will be discontinued. These are significant policy changes which will be of great benefit to lone parents. The Department is working on early implementation of these recommendations in 2023.

Last week, I launched a public consultation process for a proposed new Pay-Related Benefit for Jobseekers, which represents a major reform of Ireland’s Welfare System for jobseekers. Pay-Related Benefit would link a person’s jobseeker’s payment to their previous earnings and work history and is the norm in European countries.

In February 2021, in line with the Programme for Government commitment, a Benefit Payment for 65-year-olds was introduced. This provides a benefit payment, based on an individual’s PRSI record, for employed or self-employed people who are aged between 65 and 66 and who were required to or chose to retire at 65 years.

Also in 2021, my Department undertook a policy review of disregards in the means test for the Farm Assist scheme. As recommended by the review, the list of agri-environmental schemes that attract a disregard was extensively extended, with effect from June 2022. Budget 2023 has subsequently announced that the amount of this disregard will increase from €2,540 to €5,000 from January 2023.